


Where We Left Off

by EmeraldHeiress



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Angst, Crack Treated Seriously, Din has a lot of feelings, Don't copy to another site, Episode: s02e08 The Rescue, Family Feels, Feels, Fluff, M/M, Mando'a Language (Star Wars), Mentioned Fennec Shand, Mentioned Moff Gideon, Protective Din Djarin, Surprises, The Mandalorian Darksaber (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:02:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29730135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldHeiress/pseuds/EmeraldHeiress
Summary: Exhaustion seeped into every muscle. Every bone. Din wasn’t sure which was worse, the physical or the mental. The result of the exertion and the adrenaline crash from the battle, or what came from putting up with Gideon, Kryze, and their utter bantha shit. All he knew was that this day just needed to be over.Of course, he didn’t have that luxury.
Relationships: Din Djarin & Grogu | Baby Yoda, Din Djarin/Luke Skywalker
Comments: 26
Kudos: 181
Collections: New SW Canon Server Works





	Where We Left Off

**Author's Note:**

  * For [loosingletters](https://archiveofourown.org/users/loosingletters/gifts).



> Thank you [Writing_is_THORapy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writing_is_THORapy/pseuds/Writing_is_THORapy) for betaing!

Exhaustion seeped into every muscle. Every bone. Din wasn’t sure which was worse, the physical or the mental. The result of the exertion and the adrenaline crash from the battle, or what came from putting up with Gideon, Kryze, and their utter bantha shit. All he knew was that this day just needed to be over. 

Of course, he didn’t have that luxury. 

His gut clenched as the dark troopers returned. A swarm of dart wasps descending on their prey, the echo of their steps ringing through otherwise empty halls. Gideon’s mouth continued to run. Din wondered, as he knelt and set his son down, softly stroking an ear in reassurance, if it was a trait of those in _power_ or those of _stupidity_ to be so dramatic. 

With ice in his veins and resolve in his heart, he steadied his blaster ~~for whatever good it may do~~ at the doors. 

Waiting. 

He wasn’t afraid to give his life for his son; there was no more honorable way to go march on than protecting a child. And it would be a one hell of a battle — they would not take Grogu while there was breath left in his body.

_This was the Way._

Yet, there were paths in his life left unwalked. Things he would have wanted to settle. A melancholy sorrow mingled with his resolve, with his love for his son, as he tightened his grip on his blaster.

A thought went out to the universe — a longing, more than anything — for his estranged husband. Too many years separated by war and the aftermath. By life.

What Din wouldn’t do to see him again. He held a memory in his mind for a moment, allowing the rumble of the others around to fade. The image of his husband as he had last seen him. With his bright eyes and soft smile, his hair shining in the sunlight. So young, then. 

They had both been _so young_. 

Words blended into the background but the next ones tore him from his momentary peace.

“ _A jedi?_ ”

Barely breathed through the comms in their _buy’ce_ but anything referencing the Force caught his attention these days. It had to. 

Against his will, something like hope began to bloom in his chest. 

His eyes were drawn to the screens decorating the control panels around them; tracking the jedi’s path. At a glance, he saw the kid doing the same, just as interested as he was. As the two of them watched, Din found himself admiring the ease of their movement. The efficiency of the glowing blade. The strength of their skill. 

The flame grew brighter. _Jetii_ were rare. There couldn’t be many left— 

The sound of a blaster shattered his focus. He cursed and turned on his heel. He didn’t care one _duket_ for Kryze but he’d throw himself into a black hole if it saved his son from harm. Fury roared to life, nearly stamping out everything else, and it was only Cara’s quick thinking that saved Gideon’s life. From his own hand… or by Din’s newly-won blade. 

Grogu pulled him away, pressing a hand to the screen and reminding him of their incoming visitor and their present predicament… though, that seemed to be taken care of. 

Gleaming metal bodies lined the halls of the cruiser. Discarded like the tin toy soldiers he could remember playing with far too many years ago; before the droid attack, before the fighting corp, before the covert. Still where they lay. 

The cloaked jedi destroyed the last few with ease before coming to a stop in front of the blast doors. 

_Waiting_.

Din looked at the kid. An understanding passed between them — a feeling that he couldn’t explain or describe — and he scooped him up into his arms, moving to the other side of the room. 

Each step felt oddly heavy. _Weighty_. Not in the physical world but in that other place. Was that something to do with the Force that suddenly seemed to impact every part of his life? That seemed to leach into everything lately?

His mouth opened and he heard his own voice form an order. 

“Open the doors.”

“Are you crazy?” Fennec asked, appalled. 

Sometimes, honestly, he wondered. But not this time.

“I said, _‘open the doors_.’” 

With the press of a button they began to part. Smoke from the hammered durasteel and over-stressed machinery filled the opening and the only thing they could see was the shadow of the form and the glow of their lightsaber. 

A flash of his earlier considerations on dramatics skittered across his mind but he pushed it aside. 

Din’s heart pounded in his chest as a man finally came into view. The blade disappeared, the hilt smoothly clipped to a belt, and hands began to lift the hood. Time seemed to stretch, wrapping around him as his face was revealed — the final confirmation of what Din’s heart already knew. 

The chin, graced with the hidden scar from the speeder accident. The lips that had peeled dry on water-scarce days, baking under twin suns. The nose that had freckled after burning. The forehead that had sweated as he trained. All the shapes that Din had kissed on the night they married. 

Felt their form under his lips as he vowed.

_Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar’tome, mhi me’dinui an, mhi ba’juri verde._

All the air left his lungs.

Finally.

After nine _kriffing_ years.

Finally.

“ _You_.” He growled, thankful the vocoder on his helmet hid the shakiness of his voice.

The jedi’s eyes snapped to him and Din felt the weight of his focus. Felt laid bare underneath it, like he always had. Like all his secrets, like everything that made him, was on display. The intensity of that gaze had only increased in the last years — from a candle flame to a spotlight — and he clenched his jaw against a gasp. 

He swallowed and took a step forward. Then another. Before he knew it, he stood in front of the other man. The jedi only stood there, relaxed but wary. 

_Ready_.

“You are an absolute karking _menace_ , Luke Skywalker.”

If he hadn’t been so close, he would have missed the hitch in Luke’s breath; drowned in the sudden explosion of confusion behind him. 

The gasp of surprise from Luke’s lips.

_Of his name._

With an unsteady hand, he reached. Fleetingly, he wished he had removed his gloves — so he could feel the silky hair under his fingers. But there would be time for that later. They had all the time in the galaxy now. He pulled _his jetii_ closer, pressing their foreheads together. 

“ _Din_.”

A whisper full of emotions unnamed as hands gripped his armor, pulling him tightly together. Latching on. 

“ _Cyar’ika._ ”

Someone choked behind him. 

“What the _kriff_ —” 

_Kryze_. 

The scrape of boots on durasteel jolted down his spine. The hiss of blasters priming. Without a thought, he turned, readying himself to respond. To protect. _Again_. A cloak flashed on the view of his HUD — Luke doing the same. 

Something stirred in him at the thought but he pushed it aside. Something warm and almost liquid. Something he remembered from those nights long ago...

Cara and Shand stood, weapons raised in warning, blocking the others from him and his _riduur —_ guarding his back. A new emotion uncurled, furrowing under his ribcage. Gratitude… and affection. _Friendship_. These women he was slowly growing to care for, to trust.

The others, however…

“What are you _doing_ , Djarin?”

The words formed a question but the tone of voice was all demand. Din tilted his head, sweeping his eyes and his scanners over her. Logging elevated heart rate and increased respiration. Her anger. Internally, he sighed. Of all the things he didn’t need or want to deal with right now.

He fingered the hilt on his hip, thought about her words before, and wondered how much he could get away with. 

Eyes narrowed under his _buy’ce_. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

“Your assistance has been appreciated.” A pause. Measured and slow. “You should probably clear out while you can.”

“How dare—” 

She stopped, eyeing the others in the room. The former assassin and New Republic marshal in front of her. The tense Jedi at his side. The Darksaber on his belt. 

Pressing her lips together, she holstered her weapon with a forced air of casualness. Her _aliit_ followed suit. The tension eased, if only barely.

“You may be right.” 

She bared her teeth at him in a mockery of a smile and stalked toward the door; stopping only once to hiss at him.

“This isn’t over, Djarin.”

Then, with a last look around, she swept from the room entirely. As the elevator activated, taking her and her cronies down, everyone relaxed.

Sensing the change in atmosphere, the kid called out, sending a jolt through the adults in the room. 

In two quick strides, his father was at his side, the jedi following. 

Little arms reached for his father, a grumpy look on his face as Din picked him up. Luke hovered a mere breath away.

Din didn’t have to be a jedi tell his _riduur_ was uncertain; anxious in the face of nine years gone, of the people he didn’t know, of the little one in Din’s arms. The last one, at least, he could do something about. 

He shifted on his feet and handed the kid to Luke, smirking at the muffled squawk of surprise as hands hurriedly wrapped under tiny arms. 

“Meet our _ad_.” He drawled, trying to regain some of his earlier mood. “Congratulations. It’s a boy.”

“Our—” Luke breathed, surprise and awe in his voice. “Our _ad_. Our _son_.”

Din watched, crossing his arms as his husband carefully rearranged the child in his own. As gentle fingers ran reverently over sensitive ears and soft skin.

“Hello, Grogu.” 

Din blinked. He hadn’t told Luke the kid’s name yet. He supposed, though, he shouldn’t be surprised. All that _jetii_ magic they did. Luke’s blue eyes crinkled at the corners as a bright smile stretched across his lips, obviously delighted in their boy. One small green claw reached up toward the new face. 

“It’s so good to _finally_ meet you.”

And Din just watched. 

He wasn’t sure he could name everything or _anything_ he was feeling as he did so. There were too many emotions to choose from and they were too strong. Too sharp. He had finally found his husband again, his son cradled in his arms. What more could a man ask for?

“Hey, chief?” Cara sidled up to him, keeping her voice low. “Care to fill me in?”

Din sighed again, unwillingly to break from this moment, but if anyone deserved to know it was her. Eyes never moving from his tiny family, he opened his mouth and began to speak. 

It was going to be a long tale to tell. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thinking about making this a non-chronological series because I have a lot of headcanons for this...
> 
> **Mando’a**
> 
>  _ad_ \- child  
>  _buy’ce_ \- helmet  
>  _jetii_ \- jedi  
>  _Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar’tome, mhi me’dinui an, mhi ba’juri verde_. - Mandalorian marriage vow - We are one when together, we are one when parted, we will share all, we will raise warriors  
>  _cyar’ika_ \- beloved  
>  _riduur_ \- spouse  
>  _aliit_ \- clan
> 
> **Not Mando'a**
> 
>  _duket_ \- Author created currency (as far as I know, anyway. If there’s actually a form of currency named this, please let me know.)


End file.
